Letters from the Streets of Republic City
by matinal
Summary: Mako is obsessed with probending and one team member in particular. After observing his brother's strange behavior, Bolin decides to find out who.


**Author's Notes: **Bolin is thirteen, Mako is fifteen, and Tahno is sixteen. Also, Bolin still hasn't been told the full truth about his parents, hence why he's writing them letters. Mako couldn't bring himself to tell him.

My first completed fanfic. There are no words to express my feelings. *submits this to LOK fandom and crawls back to cave ORZ*

* * *

Dear mom and dad,

So last night Mako took me to my first pro-bending match. IT WAS AMAZING! All the action and the fighting styles! They're so quick and fast at throwing punches and dodging. It's like nothing I've ever seen before! I REALLY wanna be a pro-bender some day but Mako says I'm too young. Apparently thirteen-year-olds can't do that kind of work but I suppose that's okay. It gives me some time to work on my skills before making my debut, right? Anyway, Mako's not even going to try out for one of the teams because he says he can't leave me to work alone out on the streets with Shady Shin. But he's almost sixteen! I don't understand why he'd give up something that he loves so much for me.

Anyways, Mako says that if we earn enough money by the end of this week, he'll buy me my favorite dumplings and take me to the arena again! Isn't that awesome?

Well, I gotta go now. Hopefully this letter will reach you this time.

Love,

Bolin

* * *

Dear mom and dad,

WE FOUND A FIRE FERRET! He's bright red and has a striped tail and a white face and he is just so adorable! I'm calling him Pabu and he's gonna be part of our family now, which I guess might be bad. Mako and I have been living comfortably on the money we're getting from our jobs with Shady Shin but I don't know how much Pabu will eat. Oh well, we can at least give him scraps or something. Mako says Pabu can fend for himself but I say he's family and families look out for each other!

But I suppose that isn't the most important thing that's happened lately. The metalbending police found us sleeping in an abandoned building last night and forced us to leave. Luckily, some man walking down the street saw us and pretended to be our uncle and took us back to his place. We've dodged the police before and have found kind strangers every so often to stay with, but I know we can't keep this up forever. When are you guys gonna be coming home? PLEASE write back soon.

Love,

Bolin

* * *

Dear mom and dad,

Today Mako and I got into an argument over Pabu. He says I'm spending too much time worrying over an animal and not enough time doing my job. He also says that if I don't get rid of Pabu, Shady Shin may take my job away and give it to someone else. Then he started getting on my case about needing to train so he won't have to look after me all the time. When he left to do a job for Shady Shin, I wandered around a bit and ran into some of the Triple Threat's rivals. Naturally, I tried to talk my way out of it before tossing rocks at them but, before one of them could really beat me up, Mako came. AND HE ZAPPED THEM WITH ELECTRICITY! I never knew Mako could do that! Before Mako could really let them have it, the metalbending police came and we had to run for it. We didn't get very far because I ran into someone—the guy from the night before who let us stay at his place. His name is Toza and he trains the pro-benders at the arena. He took us back to one of the arena's training gyms and made us a deal: we could stay in the attic of the arena if we worked odd jobs for him and promised to stay out of trouble on the streets. AND MAKO TOOK HIM UP ON THE DEAL. THIS IS GREAT! We now have a place to stay and it's RIGHT IN THE ARENA! And, Toza says with enough training, we could become great pro-benders ourselves!

This has been the BEST. DAY. EVER! And I really wish you guys could see our new place. We don't have much, but it's got a killer view of Air Temple Island.

Love,

Bolin

* * *

Dear mom and dad,

Lately, Mako has been spending all of his time outside the arena, like outside the dressing rooms for the bending teams. And at night I can hear him talking to himself in his closet. I don't know what's going on. Toza says my brother must have a favorite team or team member and is obsessing over them, but I don't believe him. Mako's been so serious since you guys left. The only time I can get him to laugh or smile is when one of my pranks with Pabu backfires. I think I'm gonna tail him for a while or at least try to figure out who he's obsessed with.

Wish me luck!

Love,

Bolin

* * *

Dear mom and dad,

Mako has been skipping our practice sessions with Toza. Toza is, of course, very mad at him. He says that if Mako keeps up with this slacker attitude, he'll toss him back out onto the streets. And boy did that get Mako to shut up! But all this has done is increase his nagging to me. He says that I need to train twice as hard to get a better mastery over earth bending rather than regular hand to hand moves. Toza has few earth bending scrolls on hand, but most of them are currently being lent out to other teams. It's not that I don't want to train—because believe me, earth bending is so much fun—it's just that I have to wait to be taught more advanced sets. But for now, I'm beating Mako at wrestling and that's always good by me!

As for my tailing attempts…Mako's been finding me. So now he either makes sure I'm too busy to follow him or he has Toza constantly on my back. But that's okay. I know he's gonna be out tonight because I found his ticket for the next match. So while he's out fanboying over some team, I'm gonna be snooping through his stuff. MWHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Love,

Bolin

* * *

Dear mom and dad,

So, last night…

I snooped through his dresser and everything but found nothing. Then I went over to his closet and

HE MADE A SCULPTURE. I DON'T KNOW HOW HE DID IT BUT HE MADE A LIFE SIZE REPLICA OF TAHNO FROM THE WOLFBATS. OUT OF BUBBLEGUM. [Illegible scribbles]

AND MORE THAN THAT. IT WAS A SHRINE. A SHRINE. [Illegible scribbles]

There are, like, candles and pictures of Tahno everywhere. Newspaper clippings, SIGNED photographs, there's even a lock of his hair, mom and dad. HIS HAIR.

But I'm not gonna say a word. If Mako has found something to make him happy, so be it. I'll blindly look the other way and let him do as he pleases. In fact, I'll try being the best little brother ever because, for once Mako is genuinely happy, like he's been smiling and laughing a whole lot now. And I don't want him to go back to being serious. I want us to play around like old times and just have fun.

But

Just

Where did he get all that bubblegum from AND WHY DIDN'T HE SHARE ANY WITH ME?

Well, I'm gonna go and start making an outfit for Pabu. I've been training him to do some really cool tricks. You guys just have to see them. HE'S AMAZING!

Love,

Bolin


End file.
